


Riddle Me This

by Tehri



Series: Memories of Home [6]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Dwalin is a bastard, Hobbits love riddles, I Don't Even Know, I had too much fun, It seemed fitting somehow, Kili needs to learn new riddles, Kili's riddle is courtesy of the Internet, Riddlegames, Riddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-20
Updated: 2014-11-20
Packaged: 2018-02-26 09:30:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2646986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tehri/pseuds/Tehri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is no better way to make time pass during a journey than to start a game of riddles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Riddle Me This

Leaving Beorn’s comfortable wooden hall was difficult, but the journey had to continue. Neither Thorin nor Balin would tire of pointing out that they had to reach the Lonely Mountain preferably before Durin’s Day, if they were to ever find the hidden door; and yet, some in the company were inclined to grumble and mutter in their beards and throw longing looks over their shoulders as they rode away, leaving Beorn’s flower-pastures behind them.

Bilbo was one of these. He would not voice his thoughts out loud, but the gardens they had now left had reminded him of home, and he wished to be back in his dear little smial soon again. _Soon_. A lovely word, but sadly not one that he could really connect to the words _return home_ at the time.

Still, they were all in good spirits as they hurried forward. Gandalf had told them that they were at least three days away from the path they were to take, and they needed to move with great speed. As they were not too far from the skinchanger’s house, they were not worried about being hunted. No orcs or wargs would dare come this close, they’d been told. In fact, they had not ridden for more than an hour when the songs and tales started again.

Despite not being much of a rider, Bilbo had kept his pony alongside Balin’s; the two kept a lively conversation, discussing this and that about Ered Luin and the Shire. And being the hobbit that he was, Bilbo could not resist luring Balin into a riddle-game – a game they kept up until they stopped to make camp for the night. The other dwarves had overheard much of what they’d said to each other, and soon riddles were being thrown back and forth amongst them all. The hobbit couldn’t help but laugh – although the riddles asked were not all ones that he had heard before, he did have quite a head for actually figuring them out. And by now he was quite familiar with how dwarves would go about with their figures of speech, which made the whole matter a little bit simpler for him. They kept the game up even as the fire was lit and they had their evening meal.

“I’ve got one,” Ori said eagerly, leaning forward. “ _I know a word of letters three – add two, and fewer there will be_!”

Bilbo grinned brightly at the young dwarf and gave the answer before anyone else had the chance to speak up. He had heard the same riddle when he was younger and played riddle-games with his father, and he did remember the answer.

“The word _few_ , of course,” he laughed. “That’s an old one, you’ll have to try harder! My turn!” He hummed and thought about the different riddles he knew, doing what he could to ignore the calls from the other dwarves claiming they had known the answer. “Ah, this should do. _I am always hungry, I must always be fed, the finger I touch will soon turn red_.”

He grinned at the looks on his friends’ faces, feeling quite confident that he’d managed to stump most of them. But then Dwalin gave him a long look, nodding slowly.

“It’s fire,” the warrior dwarf said firmly. “Stop feeding wood to a flame and it’ll die.” He shrugged and immediately launched into another riddle. “ _Ripped from my mother’s womb, beaten and burned, I become a bloodthirsty killer. What am I_?”

This time, Bilbo didn’t even have the chance to think before Bofur let out a triumphant shout.

“That would be iron ore,” the cheerful dwarf called. “Any miner would know that one!”

A round of laughter came from the dwarves, but Bilbo frowned.

“Hold on a moment,” he said. “I get the first and last bit of that one… _Beaten and burned_ …” He blinked, groaning as he noticed the looks his companions gave him. “Ah. Of course. Heated in a forge, beaten by a smith… Well, now I feel quite ridiculous.”

“As you should,” Bofur grinned, patting the hobbit’s shoulder. “Now, my turn! _At the sound of me, men may dream or stamp their feet. At the sound of me, women may laugh or sometimes weep_.”

He leant back with a very satisfied look on his face, watching as the others quietly repeated the words to themselves while trying to figure it out. Finally Thorin raised his head and peered searchingly at Bofur.

“I think I’ve heard this one,” he said slowly. “The answer is music, is it not?”

“Aye, so it is,” Bofur answered, grinning brightly and gesturing to Thorin. “Your turn to see if you can stump the rest of us, then!”

Thorin was silent for a long while, so long that Bilbo nearly thought that he wasn’t going to continue the game, when suddenly he spoke up again.

“ _Each morning I appear to lie at your feet, all day I will follow no matter how fast you run, yet I nearly perish in the midday sun_.”

“Easy,” Fili called. “It’s Kili!”

There was laughter all around as Kili began protesting loudly against that particular answer. Thorin grinned and shook his head.

“Could seem like it,” he said. “But no, it’s not Kili.”

“Of course it’s not Kili,” Bilbo snorted. “It’s a shadow. You see it when the sun is low, it’s always there, but nearly not visible when the sun stands high.” At Thorin’s nod, he launched into another riddle, one that his mother had taught him when he was still a little fauntling hiding behind her skirts. “ _If you break me, I do not stop working. If you touch me, I may be snared. If you lose me, nothing will matter. What am I_?”

There was only a brief moment of silence before Kili’s face lit up in recognition and he nearly dropped his bowl as he jumped up.

“Your heart,” he cried. “The answer is your heart!”

Bilbo laughed and nodded, shooting the young prince a bright grin as Fili pulled his brother back down again.

“My turn then,” Kili said in a sing-song tone. “Let’s see… It’s going to have to be a good one.”

“Maybe you should hand it over to someone else then,” Nori teased, grinning as Kili threw a stick at him. “Ah, come on, you’re not the best at riddles, Kili!”

“Well, I’ve got one all the same,” the young dwarf-prince sniped back. “Here we go. _When set loose I fly away, never so cursed as when I go astray_.”

There was another brief moment of silence. Then Thorin and Fili simultaneously let out load groans and hid their faces. Dwalin burst out laughing and slapped his knee. Bilbo could only stare at Kili in sheer astonishment.

“Did you actually just ask that one?” he said slowly. “Did you _really_ just ask us _that_ riddle?”

“Yep.” Kili grinned at the hobbit and shrugged. “A riddle’s a riddle. Dwalin taught me that one.”

“I really shouldn’t be surprised,” Bilbo murmured, noting the despairing look Thorin shot at Dwalin, who was getting red in the face from laughter.

“The answer’s a fart,” Fili groaned.

“And on that note,” Thorin rumbled, “I think it’s time we sought our bedrolls. Dwalin, as a _reward_ for teaching my nephew that riddle, you’ll take first watch.”

There were no protests from the warrior, who seemed to have anticipated that reaction. Bilbo couldn’t help but chuckling to himself as he rolled himself up in his blankets; it may have been a bad riddle, but it _had_ been excellently delivered.

Thorin, who had placed his bedroll beside Bilbo’s, reached out and tapped the hobbit on the shoulder.

“Thank you for the distraction,” he said quietly, giving his small companion a smile. “It was quite needed, considering what we have ahead of us.”

“It wasn’t meant as a distraction,” Bilbo replied softly. “I was bored, and Balin was kind enough to humour me. I hadn’t thought the rest of you would get involved.”

“Not all of us are good with riddles, but it provides a way to pass time, at least.” Thorin shrugged. “You seem to have had a lot of practice.”

“Well, my da loved riddles,” Bilbo chuckled. “Not to mention the rest of my family. It’s a usual hobbit pastime, really. After a while it’s just a matter of getting into the correct line of thought, and there’s really no trouble figuring it out.”

“I think you can imagine why Nori claimed that Kili’s no good,” Thorin muttered. “He’ll recognise some that he has heard before, but he’s really no good at figuring out others.”

Bilbo forced back a laugh and nodded. Kili was a bright lad, but… Well, there were limits to one’s skills, after all.

“I suppose we ended the game on a good note,” he joked.

Thorin grimaced.

“There would have been _many_ more along those lines if we had continued,” he sighed.

“Exactly why would Dwalin teach him such riddles?”

“Perhaps it escaped your notice, master Baggins, but Dwalin has a tendency of not caring who he offends.”

“Ah, yes, that would do it.”

“For future reference, don’t ever ask Kili about any jokes taught to him by Dwalin.”

“Bad idea?”

“If you value your sanity, yes.”

“Perhaps I should ask, then.”

“Let me rephrase that. If you value the sanity of your companions.”

“I’ll make no promises, Thorin.”


End file.
